


Mirror-and-Steve Boy.

by elumish



Series: Mirror-and-Steve Boy [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 11:12:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5414651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elumish/pseuds/elumish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fake-weapons-maker, who is looking at his rectangle, waves a hand. “Yeah, sure, give him what he—huh. Okay. That’s…huh.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mirror-and-Steve Boy.

The Winter Soldier sits on the metal table in the corner of the room—one exit, biometric two-finger lock—with his flesh hand curled loosely around the edge. Everyone is watching him except fake-weapons-maker, who is watching Steve.

“I need to look at it.”

Steve looks not-wanting. “No. You need his permission.”

“I’m not sure he’s in a place to give permission,” man-with-wings says.

“That doesn’t mean we just violate him.”

“It means he needs a medical proxy,” fake-weapons-maker says, “and who better than you, a fellow former iceberg?”

Steve throws his arm out towards the Winter Soldier, who tightens his grip on the table. “Why don’t you ask him?”

Fake-weapons-maker turns to look at the Winter Soldier, asking, “Can I examine your arm?”

“No.”

“See?” He throws his arms out too, and the Winter Soldier tightens his grip so much the metal creaks. “He said no.”

Man-with-wings looks at him. “Could Steve examine your arm?”

Steve is prepared to fight. He cannot be allowed near the Winter Soldier’s best weapon. “He is in uniform.”

“He’s in—” Man-with-wings blinks. “We thought you would want to see him in uniform.”

The Winter Soldier does not know how to put these words into sounds. “Captain America cannot be allowed access to the Asset’s weaponry.”

Steve takes a step closer to him, then stops. “If I change, if I’m out of uniform?”

“You are Steve.”

Fake-weapons-maker looks wanting. “Ooh, Capsicle, does this mean all of us get to see you in all your naked glory?”

“No.” Steve looks at man-with-wings. “Could you get me a change of clothes? I don’t want to—”

“No problem.” He heads out of the room, and Steve and fake-weapons-maker both watch him as the door slides open and then shut.

Steve looks at him. He looks past Steve. He can watch the reflections of both Steve and fake-weapons-maker in the window. Neither of them are moving threateningly.

Steve says, “I hope you’ve been doing okay, Buck. You look like you need a shave and a haircut, but…well, otherwise you don’t look too bad.”

Fake-weapons-master snorts from where he’s looking at a rectangle. “He needs a shower.”

“Not helpful, Tony.”

“Just saying it like it is, Capsicle.”

The door opens again, and man-with-wings walks back in carrying a pile of cloth. He hands it to Steve, who says, “Okay, everyone out. I don’t need you leering at me while I change.”

Man-with-wings looks at the Winter Soldier. “Are you sure it’s safe? Are you sure _he’s_ safe?”

“I can take care of myself. And Bucky won’t hurt me. Will you?”

Fake-weapons-maker looks not-wanting. “He _shot_ you. More than once.”

“It’s fine. And you can have JARVIS watching. I’ll be fine.”

Man-with-wings walks out, and a second later fake-weapons-maker follows. The door slides closed, and Steve looks at the Winter Soldier. “I’m going to take my uniform off now. I have no weapons underneath. I need to take my shield off my back. I’ll put it on this table. Please don’t try to get it, or I’ll have to stop you. Is this okay?”

The Winter Soldier nods, and Steve pulls the shield from his back and sets it on a nearby table. Then he strips out of the uniform and folds it up, setting it next to the shield. He looks up at the Winter Soldier. “Just like in the Army, right? We never had any privacy.”

The Winter Soldier says, “You could have had your own tent if you hadn’t insisted on sharing with me,” without knowing why.

Steve looks wanting and begins pulling clothing on. The Winter Soldier shifts his focus away from Steve. Steve is no longer a threat. He must be protected. “Can they come back in?”

“Отойдите от двери.”

Steve blinks. “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Russian.”

“Move away from the door.”

Steve looks back at the door, then at the Winter Soldier. “They are my friends.”

“You are to be protected. Move away from the door.” He does not want an unprotected Steve between the Winter Soldier and others. “Stand behind me.”

“I can fight my own battles, Buck. And they’re not a threat.”

“Steve.”

Steve’s face turns wanting again, and he walks over to stand beside the Winter Soldier’s metal arm. It’s close enough; he can move in front of Steve in 1.2 seconds, and his arm can stop any projectile attack.

“Can I touch you?” Steve looks at the Winter Soldier. “I just—it’s been so long, and I—you don’t have to say yes.”

The question is nonsensical. “You are Steve.”

“That doesn’t mean that it’s a yes.”

“You are Steve.”

“That doesn’t—”

“If you want to touch me, touch me.”

Steve blinks at him, then reaches out, slowly, and lays a hand on the back of his neck. Everything goes—–for a second, and then the Winter Soldier adjusts. There is pressure, and warmth, and calluses on Steve’s hand.

And then the door opens, and the Winter Soldier slides to his feet in front of Steve, the hand slipping off his neck, and he almost thinks he wants it back. But Steve must be protected, and the Winter Soldier cannot think as well with hands on him.

Fake-weapons-maker holds up his hands in the doorway. “Whoa, okay, Robocopter. Down, boy, I mean you no harm. We just need a bit of your blood to compare it against the teenager in my med center. Steve, you good to take it?”

Steve asks, “Are you okay with me taking it?”

“You are Steve.” The Winter Soldier will do what Steve asks as long as it does not interfere with the safety of those slotted in his mind. It is what he does. It is his mission.

Steve sighs, and there is heat against the Winter Soldier’s neck. “I’m not really comfortable taking that as a yes, but it’s all you’re giving me. Can you sit back down? And Tony, get me a syringe.”

“How come he gets a question?” Fake-weapons-maker asks as he pulls a syringe out of his pocket and sets it down on the table with the shield. “Please don’t flip out on me, Sargesicle. Does that work? I think that works.”

Steve’s hand touches the back of his neck, and he goes blank again for a second. “I need to get around you to get to it, unless you want to grab it.”

The Winter Soldier steps aside, then follows to the side of Steve so he can move in front of him if necessary. Fake-weapons-maker doesn’t look wanting.

“You sure he should be so close?”

Steve laughs. “I think he thinks the same about you.”

“Me? What does he think I’m going to do? I don’t even have my suit on. And he’s the one with the awesome arm.”

Steve looks at the Winter Soldier. “It’ll be easier if you’re sitting when I do this? You okay with sitting back down on that table?”

They walk back to the table, and the Winter Soldier sits back down. Steve stands near his flesh arm and puts the syringe into it, and it fills with blood. Then he pulls it out and presses an adhesive piece of cloth to it, over the hole.

Steve looks at fake-weapons-maker. “What do you want to me to do with it?”

“There’s a slot right there, no, to your right, your _other_ right, it’s not behind Robocop—JARVIS, light it up, will you.” Something lights up beside Steve, who places the vial from the syringe into the slot. “Awesome. Great. Now this’ll just take a minute—JARVIS, have they gotten the kid’s blood yet?”

A voice announces, “Yes, sir. Analysis is being completed now,” and the Winter Soldier shoots to his feet, stepping in front of Steve and pressing him back against the wall because there is a threat he cannot see and so he must cover the entirety of Steve. "I apologize for startling you, Sergeant Barnes. I am JARVIS, the computer in control of all of Master Stark’s properties.”

Fake-weapons-maker says something, but the Winter Soldier is not listening. “Где ты?”

“Я могу разговаривать с Вами на русском, если хотите. ”

The Winter Soldier presses Steve even further back against the wall, and Steve makes a noise, one hand settling on the Winter Soldier’s side. “Где ты?”

Fake-weapons-maker takes a step forward. “He is the house. He’s an artificial intelligence, an AI.”

“A robot,” Steve says, and the Winter Soldier understands. “Can you, uh, move forward a little, Buck? You’re kind of squishing me.”

If the threat is the house, the Winter Soldier cannot keep Steve safe by blocking him from open space. He takes a step forward.

The house says, “The analysis has been completed.”

Fake-weapons-maker claps his hands. “Great. Send it all to my tablet.”

“Dr. Banner is inquiring about the contents of the results.”

Fake-weapons-maker, who is looking at his rectangle, waves a hand. “Yeah, sure, give him what he—huh. Okay. That’s…huh.”

From behind him, Steve says, “What is it?”

“Well—”

The door slides open, and Mirror-and-Steve boy hurries in, face flushed. The Winter Soldier moves towards him, though there is no way to be between fake-weapons-maker and both of them simultaneously. “Где Наталья?” She was not supposed to have left him alone. She had broken her word.

Mirror-and-Steve boy stops and blinks at him. “What? Oh, uh, she’s right behind me, assuming you were asking where she is. My Russian is super rusty. And also, uh, Mr. Stark, was your house-robot telling the truth?”

“That you’re—? Yeah.”

Behind him, Steve says, “Someone, tell me what’s going on.”

Fake-weapons-maker looks up. “Oh, right. So, junior here is your grandkid. ‘Your’ plural. ‘Grandkid’ singular.”

Steve’s knees buckle, and the Winter Soldier turns to catch him before he can fall. He clings to the Winter Soldier, and his hands are warm. “We have—I was never going to be able to have children. We were never going to be able to have children, not with each other, and then you were gone, and I—” He turns to look at Mirror-and-Steve boy. “Do you have health issues? I was basically dead as a child, and I—asthma or—or are you color blind?”

Mirror-and-Steve boy looks not-knowing. “Uh, no? I mean, my mom died of a degenerative brain disease, but it doesn’t look like I have it. Well, it looked like I had it, but that was a demon that was possessing me, so…no. I don’t think so. Scott, though, Scott used to have asthma, but I don’t think you’re his grandparents, too, because, well, I’ve met all of his grandparents. Anyway. You’re my grandparents. Grandfathers? I have three grandfathers. That’s super weird. Also I have to be back home by Monday, because I have school, so…I don’t know what I’m talking about at this point.”

Steve asks, “Can I touch you? That might be a weird question, but you’re my grandson—apparently—and I’d like to give you a hug. And, uh, Bucky, he’s not a threat.”

The Winter Soldier knows that. “He is Mirror-and-Steve boy.”

“My name is Stiles. And…yeah, you can give me a hug. If you want.”

Steve moves past the Winter Soldier to envelop him in an attack—hug?—and the Winter Soldier moves past to stand between them and fake-weapons-master, who is still looking at his rectangle. It is easier to protect them now that they are standing together.

Наталья is standing in the doorway, watching, and the pilot is beside her. She is looking at him. “You have a grandson.”

“Я думал, что если бы у меня был ребенок, то он был бы от тебя.”

Fake-weapons-maker looks up at him and then at Наталья. “Really? The two of you, you know?”

Наталья rolls her eyes. “Don’t be crude, Stark.”

Steve pulls away from Mirror-and-Steve to look at them. “You didn’t say that you knew him, other than him shooting you.”

She looks at the Winter Soldier, but he does not know what she is attempting to portray on her face. And then she looks at Steve. “He was my trainer in the Red Room, and they encouraged certain…connections between trainers and trainees as a means of ensuring loyalty.” She faces the Winter Soldier. “I wasn’t aware you remembered that.”

“Memories have been returning intermittently since my last time in the chair.”

Fake-weapons maker sighs. “Tell me we don’t need to run your DNA against the kid, too.”

Наталья shakes her head. “I have never borne a child, and I am unable to do so.” She looks at the Mirror-and-Steve boy. “You said that you need to be home by Monday.”

He nods. “Yeah. I have a quiz. Because I’m in high school. Which is a kind of weird thing to say around the Avengers. You’re the Avengers. Plus…um. Yeah. Holy shit, I’m related to one of the Avengers.” He looks at Steve. “Holy shit, I’m related to Captain America. I should probably stop swearing now. Because you’re Captain America. And my grandfather. How am I supposed to tell my dad that I’m related to Captain America? And, um, Bucky Barnes? But to answer your question, yes, I need to be back on Monday.”

“We will need to ensure your protection.”

“He cannot leave.”

Mirror-and-Steve boy coughs. “That’s not really an option, because my friends are going to come after me, and that’s not really a fight you want to get into. Because they’re surprisingly, uh, resilient.”

Fake-weapons-maker looks at him. “Because they’re werewolves? You said that before.”

“Right. Yes. Yes, they’re werewolves, and wow, this feels like a really ridiculous conversation.” He looks at the Winter Soldier. “Do you want to give me a hug, too? Because that would make today just a little bit weirder.”

The Winter Soldier does not understand. “You are Mirror-and-Steve boy.” That is a safe response, because Steve seems to have been able to figure out what he means by that.

Steve sighs. “He’s generally meant yes by that. I think.”

Mirror-and-Steve boy blinks at him, then walks over and wraps his arms around the Winter Soldier. Everything goes——like when Steve touches him, which is dangerous, but Наталья is watching, so he can miss a few seconds.

And then Mirror-and-Steve boy touches his arm, and he pulls away, because his arm is not safe for the people slotted in his head. Except Steve wanted to examine his arm. Steve has not yet examined his arm.

There are pain signals coming from his arm to his brain, and it is not as functional as it was previously, he thinks, though he is not able to adequately remember previous times. But he cannot provide this information when fake-weapons-maker and the pilot are in the room, so he does not say it.

Mirror-and-Steve boy looks up at his face. “Are you okay?”

“да.”

“Do you actually know what language you’re speaking? Because you’re basically just switching back and forth, and that’s fine, obviously, but it’s a little weird. Also, your fingers are twitching. Your metal fingers. Are they supposed to do that? Because that would be kind of weird, too. And not super effective. Not that I can really talk about effective things; half of my best friend’s superpower is just having really weird eyebrows.”

Fake-weapons-maker shoots to his feet, hurrying over, and the Winter Soldier shoves himself between fake-weapons-maker and Steve and Mirror-and-Steve boy. Fake-weapons-maker skids to a halt, one hand held out in front of himself. “Right. Yes. You’re being touchy. Cap, if his arm is doing weird things, we need to check it out, and preferably sooner rather than later. If it’s going to blow up, I’d rather know so we can make that…not happen.”

Mirror-and-Steve boy looks at his arm, and he looks not-wanting. “Oh, fuck, another bomb? Are any of you bomb experts or something, because my resident bomb expert is in Beacon Hills and probably fucking Lydia at the moment, so…yeah.”

Fake-weapons-maker snorts. “Am I a bomb expert? I used to build bombs. I know how bombs work.” He looks at Steve. “I’m serious, Capsicle, we need to get inside his arm, because we don’t know what they did to it.”

Steve looks not-wanting. “Bucky, I need to look at your arm. Is that okay?”

The Winter Soldier thinks he already agreed to this, but perhaps he did not. “You are Steve.”

“Right. Okay. Tony, where’s the best place for him?”

“Literally anywhere.”

Steve looks at Mirror-and-Steve boy. “You might not want to stand next to him while we’re doing this; I don’t know if he’s going to freak out.”

Mirror-and-Steve boy laughs, and it is a not-wanting sound. “Yeah, going back to Beacon Hills with a black eye would probably not be the best idea.” He steps away, and the Winter Soldier thinks he might want him to come back, but Steve does not want that, so it is simpler for Mirror-and-Steve boy to be away.

But if his arm will be incapacitated, Mirror-and-Steve boy must still be kept safe, so he looks at Наталья. “Помните свое обещание.”

“да.”

He walks over to the table in the corner, Steve walking with him, and holds his arm out so Steve has access to it. Steve is not a Scientist. He is will be a Handler. The Winter Soldier knows not to hurt Handlers. He will not hurt Steve.

He must protect Steve.

**Author's Note:**

> There will be more (eventually) told from Stiles's point of view.
> 
> Thanks to Edariel for help with the Russian.
> 
> Translations:
> 
> Где ты?--Where are you?  
> Я могу разговаривать с Вами на русском, если хотите. --I can speak to you in Russian, if you'd like.  
> Где Наталья?--Where is Natalia?  
> Я думал, что если бы у меня был ребенок, то он был бы от тебя.--I thought that if I had a child, it would be yours.  
> Помните свое обещание.--Remember your promise.


End file.
